Diseases & Topics

Bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases that are transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks and fleas are collectively called "vector-borne diseases" (the insects and arthropods are the "vectors" that carry the diseases). Although the term "vector" can also apply to other carriers of disease — such as mammals that can transmit rabies or rodents that can transmit hantavirus — those diseases are generally called zoonotic (animal-borne) diseases.